Crazy, stupid, disobedience: The dark side of paradoxical leadership

In organizations, paradoxes are not only an expression of growing dynamism and complexity. Leaders can also generate them intentionally by means of double-bind rhetoric in order to exercise power. In double-bind situations, followers are trapped in a paradox: they have no possibility of doing what is right, but can always be made responsible by their leaders for wrong decisions. To create awareness of this dark side of paradoxical leadership, the article builds and elaborates a theoretical typology of double binds in organizations and discusses it in terms of the introduced concept of paratoxical leadership. The article further explains how paratoxical leadership leads to dysfunctional outcomes for the individual and the organization and discusses ways to successfully prevent and resolve instances of paratoxical leadership. In this way, the article shows how leadership power, or more precisely, the abuse of leadership power, in organizations can be explained from a paradox perspective.

A Wattsian Perspective on Life’s Ultimate Riddle: Paradoxes, Double-Binds, and Their Resolution

Inquiring into the role that paradox and double-binds play within the work of Alan W. Watts, this essay addresses a quintessential theme in Watts’ philosophy: a twofold sense of ontological estrangement (i.e., from oneself and from the cosmos). Such paradoxical separation constitutes an ontological double-bind and is referred to herein as life’s ultimate riddle. Based on an exegesis of 73 of Watts’ books, articles, and secondary sources, this essay presents what is called Wattsian double-bind theory, which extends David Smith’s (2010) triadic thesis of Watts’ mature works featuring a three-fold conceptual structure: the field, the double-bind, and play. Following an overview of Wattsian ontology, this essay then aims to (a) identify Watts’ double-bind framework informed by paradox, koans, double-binds, and their resolution via acceptance; (b) clarify the similarities and vast differences between Wattsian and classical Batesonian double-bind theories; and (c) reveal the interconnected elegance of the former, as it occurs in the themes of language, time, perception, identity, science, and religion.

Reading datasets: Strategies for interpreting the politics of data signification

All datasets emerge from and are enmeshed in power-laden semiotic systems. While emerging data ethics curriculum is supporting data science students in identifying data biases and their consequences, critical attention to the cultural histories and vested interests animating data semantics is needed to elucidate the assumptions and political commitments on which data rest, along with the externalities they produce. In this article, I introduce three modes of reading that can be engaged when studying datasets—a denotative reading (extrapolating the literal meaning of values in a dataset), a connotative reading (tracing the socio-political provenance of data semantics), and a deconstructive reading (seeking what gets Othered through data semantics and structure). I then outline how I have taught students to engage these methods when analyzing three datasets in Data and Society—a course designed to cultivate student competency in politically aware data analysis and interpretation. I show how combined, the reading strategies prompt students to grapple with the double binds of perceiving contemporary problems through systems of representation that are always situated, incomplete, and inflected with diverse politics. While I introduce these methods in the context of teaching, I argue that the methods are integral to any data practice in the conclusion.

Communicating COVID-19: Metaphors We “Survive” By

The objective of this paper is to de­scribe the framing of the pandem­ic that the world currently endures during the mandatory quarantine taking place in Argentina. This par­ticular study is part of a bigger cor­pus of research that investigates the relationship between discourses held by enterprises, politicians and media in the digital age and how it affects communication at times of crisis. This is a qualitative study that explores emerging metaphorical language that is being implemented to communicate salient aspects of the unprecedented phenomenon that is COVID-19 in a partial way. It is important to point out that the analysis is made at the same time that the crisis is unfolding. In order to develop this perspective, we will rely on a previous framework developed to study communication of crisis. Our research has led us to identify a “family” of metaphors that emerge from the headlines of the cor­pus: war, care and time. Identifying and understanding the emerging met­aphors is the first step to avoid contra­dictions that can lead to double binds. Keywords: crisis, pandemic, digital me­dia, metaphors, double binds.